ys, crouched down in his boat and "called." Peter
followed suit, and so did the party on the bergs. The flock swung within
a hundred yards of Peter, who held his fire, and then, seeing the
floating decoys, swung round to leeward of them, and setting their
wings, scaled slowly in, passing within about two hundred and fifty
yards of the party on the berg.

Of course they opened fire at once, with shot of all sorts and sizes,
doing no execution but sending a bullet from one of their guns straight
over the heads of La Salle and his friends. A flock or two of ducks and
brent made similar attempts to alight, but every shot was spoiled in the
same way.

La Salle was indignant, and the boys were at a white heat, when, without
any birds being between them, the report of a heavily charged gun was
heard, and a few heavy shot struck the ice near the boats, while the
drunken crowd yelled in triumph as the water, by its ripples, showed the
great distance attained by the shot.

"I'll shoot, too, the next chance, and so may you, boys. Elevate well,
and fire when the birds are between us and the berg," said La Salle.

It was not long before three geese attempted to scale in as the others
had done, and were fired at as before, the bullet this time striking the
water in line of the boat, and whistling a few feet above it. The birds,
somewhat frightened, got within a hundred yards before swinging off, and
all three discharged their large shot simultaneously. A single goose
fell with a broken wing, and Carlo, springing out of the boat, plunged
into the water. Charley watched the effect of his shot on the party on
the berg. One stood just then in bold relief against the distant
horizon, displaying the broader part of his physique to view while
taking an observation with a brandy-bottle. Suddenly a faint yell was
heard, the bottle dropped on the berg, the hands that had held it
frantically clutched at the coat-tails of the victim, and an agonized
_pas seul_ told that the "Baby" had well avenged the wrongs of her
owner.

Half an hour later, the party had evacuated their position, bag and
baggage, "carrying their wounded," who, from the stern-sheets of their
boat, shook his fist in savage pantomime at the innocent La Salle and
his amused companions. Some weeks later he learned that a single large
shot had, without piercing the cloth, raised a contusion about the size
of a pigeon's egg, on muscles whose comfort, for a fortnight after,
emph